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Does Azolla have any future in agriculture?

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Biological Nitrogen Fixation Associated with Rice Production

Part of the book series: Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences ((DPSS,volume 70))

Abstract

For centuries Azolla has been recognized as a useful plant by farmers from limited areas of southern China, northern Vietnam and South America. It was not until the sixties nevertheless that a boom in Azolla research appeared, simultaneously, in China and Vietnam, accompanied by a wide increase of Azolla cultivation in these countries.

The first oil crisis, in 1973, induced a world-wide interest for biological N-fixation, and thus for Azolla, and research programmes on this plant were initiated during the late seventies by international organizations such as the International Rice Research Institute and the West Africa Rice Development Association but also by many other research centres, all around the world.

A great enthusiasm, during the eighties, has recently been succeeded by a period of skepticism about the potential of Azolla in agriculture.

Time seems ripe for critically reviewing the major points of view recently expressed on this matter. The present communication is devoted to this task; the conclusion will be reached that Azolla has a promising future in some regions. Strategies aimed at improving the effective use of Azolla will be suggested; they include laboratory as well as field work.

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Authors
  1. C. van Hove
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  2. A. Lejeune
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Soil Microbiology, Department of Soil Science, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Mustafizur Rahman

  2. Soil Microbiology Laboratory, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), 2200, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

    Ajit Kumar Podder

  3. Laboratory of Plant Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Catholic University of Louvain, Place Croix du Sud 5 (bte 14), B-1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Charles Van Hove

  4. LEMIR/DEVM, UMR 163 CNRS-CEA, CEA Cadarache, 13108, Saint Paul lez Durance, France

    Thierry Heulin (Director of Research) (Director of Research)

  5. GSF-Institute of Soil Ecology, Neuherberg, D-85764, Oberschleissheim, Germany

    Anton Hartmann

  6. Department of Botany, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Z. N. Tahmida Begum

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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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van Hove, C., Lejeune, A. (1996). Does Azolla have any future in agriculture?. In: Rahman, M., Podder, A.K., Van Hove, C., Begum, Z.N.T., Heulin, T., Hartmann, A. (eds) Biological Nitrogen Fixation Associated with Rice Production. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 70. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8670-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8670-2_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4742-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8670-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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